Marked for Callum Wright
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Callum Wright
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Nov 2027
A 3‑1 win over Newcastle Jets, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Kavian Rahmani, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.23
A mark of 8.23 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match27 Nov 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Perth Glory have 3 straight wins of it.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Will Freney has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Noah Maieroni falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
Callum Wright damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The match ball belongs to Arion Sulemani, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match20 Nov 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Wellington Phoenix, and it could have been more.
Squad22 Nov 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Perth Glory may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market22 Nov 2027
Matt Dench has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perth Glory they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes of Arion Sulemani at his very best
Marked 9.92. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Perth Glory.
Match20 Nov 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Nov 2027
Callum Wright damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match13 Nov 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Arion Sulemani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Steven Hall
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match13 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Nobody could get near Henry Hore
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
Callum Wright damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match6 Nov 2027
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Will Freney and Perth Glory agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Scott Wootton, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Henry Hore runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Callum Wright
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tom Lawrence in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Perth Glory know it.
Match30 Oct 2027
Henry Hore scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Macarthur FC, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
One of those days for Henry Hore
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match30 Oct 2027
The goal that put Macarthur FC ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Perth Glory equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
Callum Wright damages knee ligaments — 59 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 59 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market25 Oct 2027
Matt Dench has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perth Glory they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market25 Oct 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ignacio Sabatini wants continental football; whether Perth Glory can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Perth Glory are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tom Lawrence was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market25 Oct 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hayden Duncan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market25 Oct 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jason Morrison is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match23 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
Callum Wright damages knee ligaments — 66 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tom Lawrence in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perth Glory this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
When it matters, Matt Dench plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Callum Wright
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perth Glory lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Oct 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for James Wallace, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
Callum Wright damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brandon O'Neill and Perth Glory agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
Callum Wright damages knee ligaments — 91 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 91 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Sep 2027
Matt Dench has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Perth Glory they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
Callum Wright damages knee ligaments — 98 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 98 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arion Sulemani is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.